Chamber and committees

Work on implementing the provisions of Part 3 (Bus Services) of the Transport (Scotland) 2019 Act was paused while officials had to prioritise the Scottish Government’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic. However, work has now restarted and an online stakeholder workshop was held on 17 March 2021 which covered the range of options, including local authority run bus services. Stakeholder views will inform the development of a public consultation exercise to run later this year. This consultation will, in turn, inform the development of secondary legislation and guidance. The date of coming into force will depend on a number of factors including the time it takes to consider the outcomes of the consultation, as well as Parliamentary scheduling.

Work to review the Minimum Unit Price (MUP) level was paused in order to respond to the urgent demands of handling the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This has restarted in order to review the level of the MUP in the course of this year. The price level will be considered in line with the latest evidence on the affordability of alcohol. Should the Scottish Government consider that an amendment is required to the MUP level, any proposals would of course be brought to Parliament for full consideration.

We expect Health Boards to ensure their staff are appropriately trained and developed for their roles, as per the Staff Governance Standard. The standard complements the training expectations set out in individual professional and regulatory requirements.

Introduced in February 2018, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) developed a clinical guideline, about the use of medication to manage migraines. The clinical guidance is based on what we know from current medical research. It also gives advice based on the opinion of healthcare professionals who are trained on how best to manage people's care.

All boards have been encouraged by the Scottish Government to establish care interface groups, which will cover work in improving the management of headaches. the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland have also been supported by the Scottish Government to develop tools and resources to support boards establish these groups.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving neurological care and support in Scotland, including for people with migraine. The Neurological Care and Support Framework includes a commitment to promote and support the implementation of Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) General Standards for Neurological Care and Support 2019. General standards for neurological care and support (healthcareimprovementscotland.org)

These standards articulate what people with neurological conditions should expect to receive in terms of high quality care from the health and social care organisations that support them, and it is intended that organisations use these standards to demonstrate that they are delivering this. Standard 3 states that organisations should ensure that staff have the education, training and information to deliver care and support to people living with neurological conditions, appropriate to roles and workplace setting. The accompanying criteria states that this should be aligned to appropriate guidance, standards and best practice, where available. Discussions to explore the introduction of quality assurance arrangements for the standards are being taken forward with HIS. The Scottish Government expect Health Boards to ensure their staff are appropriately trained and developed for their roles, as per the Staff Governance Standard. The standard complements the training expectations set out in individual professional and regulatory requirements.

The Scottish Government welcomed the recommendations of the Fireworks Review Group and in February 2021 laid regulations in the Scottish Parliament amending the times of day and volume of fireworks that can be sold to the general public, and the times of day fireworks can be used by the general public. These regulations will contribute to ensuring fireworks are used safely, handled with care and reduce harm for individuals and communities going forward.

Further recommendations from the Fireworks Review Group, including the introduction of mandatory conditions before the purchase of consumer fireworks by the general public and the introduction of no fireworks areas or zones where it is not possible for the general public to set fireworks off, require further consideration. Subject to the forthcoming election in May 2021, the Scottish Government intends, as a matter of urgency, to ensure further positive change is in place for communities going forward.

Further positive change will be progressed through in how fireworks are sold and used in Scotland, subject to the outcome of the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections. This will contribute towards a fundamental shift in the relationship that Scotland has with fireworks, as recommended by the Firework Review Group, and reduce the negative impact experienced by animals, individuals and communities due to fireworks.

The regulations laid in Parliament on 19 February 2021 are an important first step and will, along with a package of measures focussing on awareness raising and prevention, allow tangible change to be in place for autumn 2021.

The Scottish Government requires that green port operators and businesses directly benefitting from any new tax incentives will adopt the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First approach. We intend this as a condition of being permitted operator status, or being entitled to specific tax incentives related to operating within a green port.

Specifically, upon being awarded green port status operators will be expected to have become signatories to the Scottish Business Pledge. This will also be required of business who wish to set up in the green port and take advantage of the incentives on offer.

We recognise the financial challenges being experienced by businesses in the construction sector, particularly smaller firms and tradespeople whose business relies on doing work in domestic premises. The limited funding made available to us to support businesses means that we are simply unable to support all sectors experiencing disruption as a result of restrictions. We therefore have no plans at present to provide direct financial support to small building and construction firms.

I would, however, encourage businesses in this sector and whose trade has been impacted by the pandemic to access the UK Government's Self Employment Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which will support them in meeting staffing costs and addressing salary shortfalls. We continue to do all we can to support the sector through these difficult times through the Construction Leadership Forum and our Construction Recovery Plan.

The First Minister announced on 16 March that Stay at Home regulations will be lifted on 2 April and replaced with guidance to Stay Local, with more services able to open from 5 April. The First Minister also announced further expected easing’s from 26 April including the anticipated restarting of driving lessons and tests. The only current exceptions for driving lessons are lessons provided by a member of the same household and where an organisation has delegated authority to do so from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. This includes Scottish Fire and Rescue Services, Police Scotland and bus operators.

The Alcohol Framework 2018 commitment to further understand online and telephone sales remains important and it is crucial that these market routes are also viewed through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government commissioned Public Health Scotland (PHS) to investigate and report on alcohol consumption during the initial COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020. In February 2021, PHS published two reports and a briefing paper that explore how COVID-19 and related restrictions have impacted on alcohol sales and consumption in Scotland in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic:

Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland's Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) -
Alcohol - Health topics - Public Health Scotland .

In this work, PHS notes that its estimate of a reduction 6% in sales of pure alcohol per adult may be a slight overestimate, as online (and on-trade takeaway) sales were not captured. The Scottish Government has therefore asked PHS to consider further how it can understand this growing part of the alcohol sales market, and scoping work is currently underway to explore potential data sources and progress with analysis work.

The monitoring of the impact of gambling across the UK during the pandemic, is carried out by the Gambling Commission, which published and updated the following report . The Commission also alerts stakeholders to other academic assessments carried out across both the UK and internationally.

Gambling has the potential to negatively affect physical, psychological health, and the social functioning of the people who gamble and others around them. In April 2019 the Gambling Commission, with the support of GambleAware, published its “National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms”. That new industry-led strategy for England, Wales and Scotland aims to respond to growing concerns about the harm caused by gambling through improving prevention and educative approaches, and through developing and increasing access to evidenced-informed effective treatment and support.

The Scottish Government are currently working with the Commission and other stakeholders in Scotland, to assess existing evidence on which pathways to treatment are likely to be most successful in Scotland, this includes the evaluation of pathways being trialled in other nations. In addition, we are keen to understand why some people with problematic gambling are not accessing treatment and support services, to ensure our pathway options take these reasons into account to provide the correct approach for the people of Scotland.